To backup Outlook Express, do a find for "*.dbx" Copy all files to CD, another hard drive partition, etc. Also export your address book to a .CSV file -- use the default field mapping.

On the new computer, set up your email account(s). Then do a find for the same folders, "*.dbx" Replace the new folders with your old *.dbx folders. Open Outlook Express. You should see your old folders and email. Import your .CSV file into your address book.

Now, if you DIDN'T save your old .dbx folders and DIDN'T format your hard drive when you did the restore, your old folders may be under a different identity, which is what OE does to identify different users on the same computer. OE didn't have an identity registered because of the restore, so it created a new one for you.

In this case, when you do the find for *.dbx, you may see duplicates for the standard folders -- "Inbox.dbx" "Sent Items.dbx" etc. One set is your new identity's folders, and should be small files. The other set is your old folders and will be larger. If this is the case, get back to me and we'll point your OE to the old folders instead.